THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA DURING THE COLD WAR
Simona V. Samuilova
Institute for Historical Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Science,
Bul. Shipchenski prohod 52, bl. 17, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
Abstract
The subject of cooperation between the United States of America and the People's Republic of Bulgaria during the period of the long political and military confrontation more commonly known as the Cold War may sound rather strange, outwardly. Parallel to the opposition between the two socio-political systems (democracy and communism) embodied in an arms race, ideological confrontation and psychological war, specific forms of cooperation developed in the educational and scientific area which were beneficial to both sides. For Bulgaria (as well as for the other Eastern European countries), these forms of cooperation were the only legitimate way of access to the science, research and technologies of the United States. The Americans for their part used the educational and scientific exchange as a “channel” to penetrate the Eastern European country isolated by the West, and also as a gateway for American influence in the educational and research institutions otherwise closed to them.
Key words: international relations, scholarly exchange, cold war
1. INTRODUCTION
The aim of the present article is to study the principal forms of scientific cooperation developed between the Unites State and the People's Republic of Bulgaria in the 1960s-1980s. The information is based largely on archival documents in Bulgarian archives. The subject has been relatively little studied in the scholarly literature which has been rather focused on the political and economic relations between the two countries, at the expense of the cultural and scholarly ties. Research into the cooperation of the other Eastern European “satellites” with the world's technological leader is not too abundant either since the attention of the researchers has been mainly focused on the analysis of the scientific and educational cooperation between the two super powers, the United States and the Soviet Union (Byrnes 1972), (Richmond 1987), (Andreev 1986), (Dobroselskaya 1984).
2. THE HISTORY
After the end of World War Two the Eastern European countries found themselves in “the Soviet area of influence” which decided their post-War fate and the deterioration of their relations with the United States. Scared by the political changes that brought to power communist governments, the United States congressmen decided to sever their country's cultural and educational ties with the region (A Decade of American Foreign Policy 1985, 3203). At the same time, the keeping of the “democratic attitudes” was transferred to the radio propaganda (the radio broadcasts of the Voice of America). The American politicians gradually became to realize that freeing the “captive nations” was impossible by just the means of the propaganda, as a result of which the administration of President Eisenhower (1953-1961) changed the United States' educational policy towards Eastern Europe. The new tactics favoured the development of long-term exchange programmes in the areas of culture, education and research, which should bring about a change in the political system of the communist countries (Tsvetkova 2013). As a result of this strategy, starting from the mid-1950s, the United States initiated the conduct of diplomatic negotiations with the government of the Soviet Union to set up large-scale
exchange programmes1, in a bid to reduce the tension between the two super powers2. After negotiations that went on for three years, an Agreement between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on Exchanges in the Cultural, Technical, and Educational Fields3 was signed on 27 January 1958.
In the late 1950s the pro-Soviet Eastern European regimes limited the signing of intergovernmental agreements with the United States (Tsvetkova 2013), although they allowed the conduct of unofficial exchange programmes. Developing the scientific cooperation between the United States and the Eastern European countries was beneficial to all as it facilitated the American attempts to penetrate the education and research domains of the Eastern European region for which this provided a good opportunity of gaining access to the American science and technologies. As of the mid-1960s all countries in the Eastern Bloc recognized the need for economic reforms which had to engender modernization of the industry through the latest discoveries in science and technology. And since the highest achievements were accomplished in the West, the eyes of Eastern Europe turned to the West (Baeva 2003, pp 83-95).
The desire to intensify contacts with the Eastern European countries is part of the United States' policy of the 1960s for “building bridges” between the East and the West4. The scholarly aspects of this policy found expression in laying the foundations of the scientific and educational cooperation with the communist countries. As official agreements with them were absent (with the exception of the Soviet Union), the federal government relied on the assistance of private foundations and organizations. One of the most important such organizations is the committee set up especially for facilitation of the academic exchange with the Eastern Bloc called, Inter University Committee on Travel Grants (1955-1968), or IUCTGfor short. IUCTG was founded in 1955 by scholars from seven American universities. Initially the IUCTG was seated in the Columbia University, and between 1960-69, in the Indiana University Bloomington that had one of the oldest and powerful department of Slavic languages and literatures (which also had a rich library). During this time IUCTG became the leading administrator of the exchange activities. The new organization which represented the American universities interested in developing scientific cooperation with the communist countries took on the responsibility for academic exchange in areas such as: history, political sciences, languages and literature. Although the Committee's programmes were entirely academic, IUCTG worked in close cooperation with the Department of State which financed a third of the budget of the exchange programmes. Another third was financed by the Ford Foundation, and the last third, by the universities themselves (IREX Records 2011).
On the Bulgarian side the administration of the exchange activities was carried out by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), which was managed and structured on a Soviet model (a state-financed entity maintaining strong connections with the other Eastern European academies and above all with the Soviet Academy of Sciences). BAS abided by the decisions and guidance of the ruling Communist Party. The academic exchange between the United States and Bulgaria (as well as with the other
1 During the Geneva Summit of 1955 the American side suggested to Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov whereby a programme for educational exchange with the Eastern Bloc be created. The Minister initially refused but subsequently agreed to this.
2
For the Americans the political events from the mid-1950s (Stalin's death and his denunciation, the deterioration of the relations between the Soviet Union and China, and Albania after Nikita Khrushchev's coming to power, the improvement of the US-Polish relations in 1956) were genuine prerequisites for improving the relations with the Eastern Bloc. The Soviet Union too sought to reduce the tension and proclaimed a course towards “a decisive rapprochement with all countries” and “all-round expansion of international contacts and links along all lines” (report of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union)
3 The agreement is commonly known as the Lacy-Zarubin Agreement, after the names of its two chief negotiators, William S. B. Lacy, President Eisenhower’s Special Assistant on East-West Exchanges, and Georgi Z. Zarubin, the Soviet Ambassador to the United States at the time.
4 The policy was formulated by Zbigniew Brzezinski as a follow-up of the earlier idea for “peaceful engagement” in Eastern Europe, wherein the attitude of the United States was determined according to two criteria: one, the degree of independence of each individual country from the Soviet Union and two, the country's internal liberalization. (Raymond Leonard Garthoff, ‘Evidences of Cold War’, Uniscorp 2001):39-41
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Eastern European countries) was based on a quota principle (expressed as person-months) which determined the precise length of stay of each scholar in the two directions. The quotas were re-negotiated with the signing of each agreement and to a large extent depended on the financial budget and the political relations between the two countries in the concrete period. The quota system, borrowed from the Soviet model for exchange between the communist countries, strengthened additionally the control in the financing and in the selection of the candidates by the communist authorities.
The academic exchange of IUCTG in Eastern Europe began at the start of the 1960s, with Bulgaria becoming one the first countries (together with Hungary and Czechoslovakia) to be included in the exchange activities. The first agreement between BAS and IUCTG was signed in 1962 for a term of three academic years (1963/64; 1964/65; 1965/66) (NA-BAN, f.1. op. 21. a. e. 1, l. 1-3). Quotas of 20 person-months in the two directions were agreed. As per the agreement, each country itself chose the scholars to send to the other country. The sending country had to submit to the host country detailed information about the academic and scientific qualifications of each participant, as well as a schedule for his/her research stay. Both sides have to furnish the participants with the necessary materials for completing the set schedule, which included access to libraries, labs, archives, etc. In addition, the participants could travel within the host country (for their own expense) with the purpose of successfully implementing their research stay. A no less important fact is that they were allowed to be accompanied by their families (as from 1964/65 onwards, since in the first year of the academic exchange the conditions for this were absent). The financial arrangements were as follows: the sending country covered the travel expenses of the participants (plus the travel expenses of the persons accompanying them), and the host country covered the tuition fees and the costs for accommodation. In addition, the host country had to provide a monthly grant covering food expenses and other small needs. The size of the grants depended on the academic degree of the participants who were divided in three categories: graduate student, junior researcher and senior researcher. An important condition for the success of the exchange programmes was the opportunity for foreign language training (free of charge), envisaged in one of the clauses of the agreement. And finally, the host country had to provide free medical and dental aid.
In the period 1963/66 BAS accepted eight U.S. scholars (from the following fields: history, pedagogy, linguistics, geography), for a period of 44 months and 18 days (two of the scholars paid for their stays) (NA-BAN, f.1. op. 25, a. e. 1, l. 39). One candidate was rejected by Bulgaria as the country was unwilling to provide access to archives included in his/her schedule (and agreed upon, as per the provisions of the agreement). During the same period, ten Bulgarian scholars went to the United States (from the following fields: chemistry, physics, business, physiology, and mechanical engineering), for a total of 60 months, meaning that Bulgaria completed the entire planned quota, unlike the United States who completed much less. The scope of the exchange with the other two Eastern European countries5 which had research programmes with IUCTG in the early 1960s was equally modest. In all exchanges, the number of American participants was below the number of the Eastern European ones.
When the negotiations took place for the signing of the next agreement (1965), the United States proposed to increase the quotas to 50 months per year, to include in the exchange activities professors from establishments of higher education, exchange of publications necessary for the Centre for Balkan Studies that was being set up during this time in the Indiana University Bloomington and holding an exhibition of Bulgarian books in the United States (NA-BAN, op. 25, a. e. 1, l. 4). Bulgaria accepted most of the proposals thus demonstrating a desire to broaden the academic cooperation. At the same time, the Ministry of Education proposed to send on exchange programmes scholars from the most important technical and manufacturing sectors, while “better use should be made of the American participants for rendering immediate and concrete aid” (NA-BAN, op.25, a. e. 1, l. 21). Bulgaria proposed concluding the new agreement for four academic years (from 1966 until 1970), stipulating the number of months for only the first two years (which were not to exceed 20 months per year), and
5 According to data from IREX, which took over IUCTG's exchange programmes from 1968 onwards, in 1963-66, thirteen Americans visited Czechoslovakia, versus 29 nationals of Czechoslovakia who went to the United States. The figures for Hungary are ten Americans versus 12 Hungarians (IREX Records 2011)
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determining the next number after the expiry of this period. A dispute emerged in the negotiations vis-a-vis the areas of academic exchange. The first agreement did not have a clause regulating the matter, and the United States sent humanities scholars while Bulgaria sent scholars from the technical and natural sciences and maths.
The next agreement was signed on 2 February 1966 for four academic years (1966/67; 1967/68; 1968/69; 1969/70). The agreement broadened the hitherto existing cooperation of 20 person-months to 25 person-months per year. The principle of reciprocity was introduced, i.e. an equal number of participants were to take part from each country each year. The period of research stay was determined from one academic term to up to one year (although stays of less than three months and of more than one year were allowed too).
In 1967 the United States undertook steps to expand the existing agreement, by creating joint R&D on specific topics and exchanging teachers of Bulgarian and English. However, a new agreement was not signed since in 1968 IUCTG was disbanded and its exchange programmes were transferred to the newly founded International Research and Exchanges Board, IREX, whichexists to this day. The new entity was established with the assistance of a number of organizations6, as well as with the participation of the Department of State. IREX's exchange programmes (except the Soviet Union) included: Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Yugoslavia and East Germany (IREX Records 2011). IREX's founders created the Board as an organization to take on a more active role in coordinating and increasing the educational exchange with the communist countries. It was expected that IREX would “encourage new patterns of exchange and arrange new forms of international scholarly cooperation as opportunities permit” (Medalis 2009).
Starting from 1969 IREX took over the academic cooperation between the State Committee for Science and Technical Progress (SCSTP)7 (1951-1974) and the Ford Foundation, established only two years earlier. The exchange activities included specializations, short-term visits for exchange of experience and giving of lectures (DA-MFA, op. 25, a. e. 412, l. 10). The Ford Foundation had a long experience in the exchange with Eastern European researchers (the Foundation had already established scholarly cooperation with Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia). With Poland, for example, the Ford Foundation had been carrying out joint activity since 1957 onwards (Tadeusz 1972, 413). In the course of one year (1967/68), thanks to the Ford Foundation, eleven Bulgarians had the opportunity to visit the United States for a period of four to twelve months (from the following fields: machine building, sociology, business, farming, etc. (DA- MFA, op. 25, a. e. 412, l. 25).
In the second half of the 1960s a modest U.S.-Bulgarian cooperation in the field of education started to take place as well. Starting from 1966 the Ministry of Education sent to the United States two university teachers of English, each for a period of six months (the stays of whom were fully paid for by the American side), while the University of Sofia accepted one American teacher for a period of one year. In addition, young professors in technical subjects from the University were sent to the United States, who, however, got only paid for their travel expenses (DA-MFA, op. 25, a. e. 412, l. 27).
In the late 1960s the research cooperation between the People's Republic of Bulgaria and the United States became even more regular, albeit still being non-centralized and carried out in the absence of a formal agreement at government level. Bulgaria sought to expand the cooperation in the following areas: reciprocal exchange of engineers working on topics and according to plans agreed beforehand; exchange of research and technical information and documentation; establishing direct links between the U.S. and the Bulgarian institutions; sending of scholars to deliver lectures in U.S. universities
6
These were the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) and the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) (IREX Records, 2011)
7
Set up in 1959, the State Committee for Science and Technical Progress was a government institution equivalent to a ministry responsible for Bulgaria's development in science. The Committee coordinated the activities of BAS and other research organizations in Bulgaria. Between 1971 and 1977 the Committee was also responsible for the system of higher education, and was referred to as the State Committee for Science, Technical Progress and Higher Education
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(DA-MFA, op. 25, a. e. 412, l. 26). The official cooperation was carried out by SCSTP and IREX which now incorporated the previous agreements of BAS and IUCTG and of SCSTP and the Ford Foundation. The Ministry of Education carried out cooperation under the Fulbright Program, within which modest exchange took place of university professors. Separately from this, U.S. scholars were accepted taking part in summer seminars for Bulgarian studies.
In 1969 SCSTP signed the new agreement on academic exchange with IREX which was for three academic years (1970/71; 1971/72; 1972/73). It was agreed for the exchange activities to total 69 person-months, or 23 for each year (of which 20 months were set aside for BAS, and the remaining three, for SCSTP). It was accepted that the exchange was not going to be reciprocal and that no more than 60% of the Bulgarian participants were to carry out technical research.
The next agreement was signed in May 1975 for a period of two academic years (1975/76; 1976/77). The total number of exchanged months was increased to 28 per year, for each side. BAS reserved its entitlement to 20 months, agreed in the previous accord, which now included an additional opportunity for exchange of another eight scholars for eight months. Their visits included stays in universities, research institutes, enrolment in language trainings and participation in congresses in various research areas. A new aspect was that the agreement allowed exchange of researchers outside the agreed quota, with the status of “researchers without grants” (this applied for all Eastern European countries). In addition to the research exchange, the two countries agreed to promote new forms of scientific cooperation which included: holding bilateral seminars, visits of researchers working on one and the same programmes, etc. The representatives of the two countries agreed to meet periodically in order to discuss the effectiveness of the programmes and the future forms of joint research (The full text of the agreement is available in: DA-MFA, op. 32, a. e 429, l.1-11). When the agreement was renewed in 1978 the exchange months were increased to 30 for each side (or 90 for the three agreed academic years 1977/78; 1978/79; 1979/80) (DA-MFA, op. 33, a. e. 348, l. 11-15). The U.S. side committed itself to increasing the financial assistance to the grantees by 28% (for the second and the third year), which applied for all Eastern European countries (DA-MFA, op. 34, a. e. 343, l. 24).
As of the second half of the 1960s one more non-governmental organization of the United States, the National Academy of Science (NAS), started to show interest in establishing research cooperation with the Eastern European countries, Bulgaria including8. The joint activity was again based on the quota system. The exchange research programmes included long-term stays (up to one year) and short-term stays (for a month and mostly for delivering lectures, participation in seminars, familiarization with research work). The financial assistance was provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF)9, due to which the focus was on fundamental research. Here too the agreements were signed for a given period (usually, of between three to five years), after the expiry of which, new accords were signed. The agreement between NAS and BAS was signed for a term of two years, reckoned as of 1 September 1970 (CDA, f. 363, op. 8. a. e. 1648, l. 35). The exchange totalled ten person-months during the first year, which were planned to be increased by as many in the second. The agreement provided for establishment of contacts with other institutions as well, outside the two academies. Each of the academies covered the expenses for the scholars' stays (food, overheads and other services for the participant and his/her family), the cost of the research materials and medical services. Trips within the host country were for the host country's expense, which was more beneficial to Bulgaria and was reported as an achievement of the Bulgarian side.
A new form of cooperation between the two academies was the bilateral colloquium held in 1972 (in the City of Varna) on the development of the research policy between the two academies (this was on an American proposal) (CDA, f. 1b, op. 91, a. e. 658, l. 2-3). Such an event had not been held in any
8 It is interesting to note that IREX and NAS did not coordinate between themselves in respect of their activity with the communist countries and that there was even “a disparaging attitude” on the part of NAS towards IREX (The Committee for Disclosing the Documents and Announcing Affiliation of Bulgaria Citizens to the State Security and Intelligence Services of the Bulgarian National Army-CDDAABCSSISBNA, f. 22, op.1, а. е. 87-3, l. 2)
9 A government organization founded in 1950 with the purpose for providing financial assistance to fundamental
research in science and engineering
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other European country (CDA, f. 1b, op. 91, a. e. 658, l. 7). In the form of a free discussion the participants in the colloquium debated on the future cooperation and the training of personnel (in the following areas: environment, transport, farming, medicine, industry, etc.). It was decided to expand the scholarly exchange between NAS and BAS, to work on joint programmes of mutual interest, to create joint research groups, etc. The opportunity was discussed for cooperation with a number of American private companies carrying out research and development (CDA, f. 1b, op. 91, a. e. 658, l. 5). A special meeting was held after the end of the colloquium to discuss the existing agreement on scientific cooperation between the two academies. The American delegation pledged readiness to increase the quota for Bulgaria, but said that things depended on the federal government and on the presence of interest amongst the American scholars for participation in exchange activities with Bulgaria.
When the agreement was renewed in 1973, it was supplemented with a memorandum on joint research developments, which was terminated by NAS in 1976 (NAS held that such cooperation should be carried out by the U.S. NSF, but the latter refused on the grounds that at that time there was not a formal research agreement signed between the United States and the People's Republic of Bulgaria). The agreement between BAS and NAS was not formally renewed in 1977, and cooperation was carried out on the basis of mutual arrangements between the academies. In the absence of an agreement to regulate the scientific cooperation, problems of financial essence arose. Yet, despite the problems, the quota reached 25 months in each direction (DA-MFA, op. 34, a. e. 334, l. 38).
The mid-1970s witnessed a new phase in the development of the scientific and educational exchange. The signing of the Helsinki Accords (1 August 1975) regulated the relations between the two rival camps and provided guidance for the future joint activities. The participating countries10 were called on to broaden all levels of cooperation in the area of education and science, by means of signing “bilateral or multilateral agreements providing for cooperation and exchanges among State institutions, non-governmental bodies and persons engaged in activities in education and science” (Conference on security and cooperation Final Act, p. 52). The document encouraged the conclusion of direct bilateral agreements in support of developing university ties and individual mobility of scholars and students. The aim was to improve access to educational institutions and research centres “under mutually acceptable conditions” (DA-MFA, op. 34, a. e. 334, l. 52).
The signing of the Helsinki Final Act marked the beginning of the negotiations on concluding the future formal agreements on cultural, scientific and educational exchange between the United States and the Eastern European countries. The signing of the formal agreement with the People's Republic of Bulgaria (13 June 1977) facilitated the creation of new forms of scientific cooperation (in the absence of a formal intergovernmental agreement, the United States research programmes had been hitherto managed by the non-governmental organizations). An agreement was signed for the first time between SCSTP and the U.S. NSF (9 February 1978 in Washington, D.C. (DA-MFA, op. 34, a. e. 334, l. 52). The aim of the new programme was to promote and expand the joint research between scholars and researchers (from research institutes and establishments of higher education) in almost all branches of science. The programme had three sections: joint research, joint seminars, and exchange of short-term research stays (usually of up to one month). Each side participated in the financing of the research events, and the agreement was signed for a term of five years.
In the 1970s the powers in Bulgaria observed an increase in the interest of Bulgarian researchers in joint research activities with American fellow researchers and in sending of materials to be published in the Western press (CDDAABCSSISBNA, f. 22, op. 1, a. e. 33, l. 17). This is evident from the growing number of researchers sent to the United States. In 1974/75 they were 12, in 1975/76, 19, and in 1978/79 their number reached 21 (CDDAABCSSISBNA, f. 22, op. 1, a. e. 43-109, l. 108). The visits to Bulgaria of American researchers increased too, as did the interest of American scholars (mostly historians). Bulgarian studies began to be offered in various universities in the United States (the Indiana University Bloomington, and elsewhere), as a result of which a number of research
10
Thirty-five European states (with the exception of Albania and Andorra), plus the United States and Canada
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conferences were held between scholars of Bulgarian Studies from the United States and their fellow scholars from Bulgaria (DA- MFA, op. 34, a. e. 394, l. 4).
In the late 1970s and early 1980s Bulgaria's efforts in respect of the scientific and technical cooperation with the United States were focused on several key areas: expanding the existing cooperation in various fields of interest to Bulgaria; rendering assistance to the United States vis-a-vis implementation of the concluded agreements and providing “assistance” and “supervision” over the Bulgarian researchers sent to the United States (DA-MFA, op. 31, a. e. 590, l. 3). In respect of the first area, the Bulgarian goal was to increase the direct research contacts with various scientists and universities in the United States. The Americans too sought to develop informal relations and cooperation, as a result of which on 18 May 1983 a memorandum was signed for direct scientific cooperation between SCSTP and the Ministry of Education on the one part, and three U.S. universities on the other (the Johns Hopkins University, the Indiana State University, and the University of California, Los Angeles). An exchange quota of 30 person-months in long-term stays and three months of short stays for each side was agreed. Bulgaria expressed interest in the following areas: research policy, engineering sciences, and medicine, while the Americans were interested in: Bulgarian studies, history, and town-planning.
The start of the 1980s saw a new phase of exacerbation in international relations tentatively called “a second Cold War”. Several events contributed to the new “chill”11. The worsening of the relations between the two rival camps resulted in reduction of the financial subsidies allocated for scientific cooperation of the United States with the Eastern Bloc. The table below shows the sharp reduction of the NSF's budget for the People's Republic of Bulgaria in the early 1980s.
The budget according to the National Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, op. 42, a. e. 617, l. 3
1980 USD 292,000
1981 USD 258,000
1982 USD 194,000
1983 USD 18,000
The cooperation between BAS and NAS too was determined by the political relations with the United States since BAS was funded by the State. As soon as Reagan came to power (1981-1989) the exchange quota between the two academies was cut by 25%. Regarding the agreement with the non-governmental organization IREX, there were not any significant changes in the scope of the exchange programmes under it in the early 1980s. Although IREX did not succeed in broadening the scope of the programmes (which featured as a goal when IREX was founded), it did not decline either. The exchange quota of 30 person-months per year was kept, as well as the condition whereby 60% of the Bulgarian researchers were to be from technical sciences. The American researchers for their part used the better part of their quota for participation in the summer seminars in Bulgarian studies (DA-MFA, op. 42, a. e 617, l. 4). When the next agreement was signed in 1983 (for three academic years: 1883/84; 1984/85 and 1985/86), Bulgaria proposed to increase the exchange quotas from 90 to 120, as well as to increase the amount of the grants, but the American side refused (The full text of the agreement is available in: DA-MFA, op. 40, a. e. 503, l. 2-11).
In the mid-1980s Bulgaria took advantage from the changes in the Soviet Union (Mikhail Gorbachev's “perestroika”) to improve its relations with the United States. Especially strong was the desire of the Bulgarian side to increase the scientific cooperation with various U.S. universities (the University of
11 The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Pope John Paul II's assassination attempt in 1981 and the alleged
“Bulgarian Connection”, President Ronald Reagan's calling the Soviet Union an “empire of evil” in 1983, etc.
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Maryland, the Ohio State University, the University of Delaware, etc.) A new programme was established between the Council for Higher Education and the Illinois University. The United States Information Agency made available USD 50,000 over three years for the purposes of the joint work, which covered eight specializations for each of the sides (DA-MFA, op. 45-4. a. e. 101, l. 12).
A report of the Bulgarian Embassy in Washington contains valuable information about the exchange of researchers in the mid-1980s. The report noted that the number of Bulgarian specialists studying in the United States grew. In 1987, 67 Bulgarian scholars specialized in the United States, 45 in 1986, 38 in 1985 and 36 in 1984. Of them, 24 people were on exchange programmes, the stays of 15 people were paid for by Bulgaria, four people were sent through international organizations, and 24 were invited through personal contacts (DA-MFA, op. 45-4, a. e. 101, l. 16). The majority of the specializations (61) were long-term and only six were short-term. The number of Bulgarian doctoral students in the United States increased as well: two in 1984, five in 1985, eight in 1986, twenty in 1987. The stays of eleven of them were paid for by the American side and of nine, by Bulgaria (DA-MFA, op. 45-4. a. e. 101, l. 17). The PhD studies were mostly in the technical sciences. Most of the dissertation theses were the result of direct negotiations with some of the best U.S. universities (such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Stanford University, the University of California, Santa Barbara, the University of California, Los Angeles, etc.). During this period Bulgaria reported an increase in the number of study visits from the United States (fact-finding visits for future cooperation or visits for participations in conferences and congresses).
Opportunities were discussed in 1987 for creating joint research labs (with NSF) as a new form of the Bulgarian-American joint research activity. The researcher of the academic cooperation between the United States and Eastern Europe Glenn Schweitzer notes that out of all science academies in the region during the 1980s, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences was the one most interested in the conduct of bilateral research seminars (Schweitzer 2009). According to him, this enthusiasm was due, on the one hand, to the recognition of the political significance which the seminars had in furthering the closer ties between Bulgaria and the United States, and on the other, in strengthening BAS's participation in international scientific events. One such seminar between NSF and the State Committee for Research and Technologies (which superseded SCSTP when it was closed in 1986) was held in 1987 in the United States. Three other seminars were held in the period 1986-1988, implementing the agreement on direct research cooperation between BAS and NAS. A fourth seminar was agreed to be held in the autumn of 1989. When the seminars took place in Bulgaria, the American participants were invited to two working meetings with the Bulgarian Head of State Todor Zhivkov (Schweitzer 2009), which once again shows the importance of scientific cooperation in the bilateral relations.
3. CONCLUSION
The history of the scientific cooperation between the United States and the People's Republic of Bulgaria during the Cold War passed through different phases. The foundations of a limited joint research activity were laid in the 1960s, and the cooperation took place in the absence of a formal agreement between the two countries. Due to this the American side was represented by the non-governmental organization IREX, founded to administer the scientific cooperation with the communist countries. New programmes for scientific cooperation appeared in the early 1970s when NAS (funded by the U.S. NSF) joined the exchange activities. The bilateral colloquium held by the two science academies in 1972 was a unique form of joint work which had not been done anywhere else in Europe. The signing of the Helsinki Final Act gave an impetus for the signing of the first formal research agreements between the United States and the Eastern European countries (Bulgaria including) and together with this strengthened the scientific ties and direct contacts between the research and educational institutions of the two sides. The period of the 1970s was a time of active cooperation between Bulgaria and various U.S. universities, as a result of which the specializations and dissertations of Bulgarian researchers in the United States became more frequent.
Yet since the studied period was “a war”, albeit “cold”, the deterioration of the political relations between the two countries had a strong impact on the scope of the scientific cooperation between them in the early 1980s. The fact that the cooperation did not cease at any one time shows the big importance the joint research activity had for the two sides.
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